France Demonizes Senegalese-Muslim Footballer for Refusing to Promote LGBTQ

[quote] France Demonizes

Hysterical hyperbole.

Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye has been ordered by the French football federation's ethics board to answer accusations he missed a game to avoid wearing a rainbow jersey in support of the LGBTQI+ movement.

The Senegal international was absent for Saturday's 4-0 win over Montpellier in Ligue 1 for "personal reasons" rather than injury, according to coach Mauricio Pochettino.

Gueye must "issue a public apology" or say the rumours he refused to take part in French football's fight against homophobia are "unfounded", according to a letter seen Wednesday by AFP addressed to the player.

He also missed a match last year on a day dedicated to raising awareness against discrimination.

"This absence (against Montpellier)... is very widely interpreted as a refusal to participate," wrote the FFF's ethics board.

"One of two things, either the hypotheses are unfounded and we invite you to immediately express yourself in order to silence these rumours," the letter continued.

"Or the rumours are true. In this case we ask you to be aware of the impact of your actions and the very serious error committed."

"In refusing to take part in this collective initiative you are validating discriminatory behaviour... and not only against the LGBTQI+ community," it added.

Gueye on Tuesday received the support of Senegal's President Macky Sall.

"I support Idrissa Gana Gueye. His religious beliefs must be respected," he wrote on Twitter.

(AFP)

He knows that being part of the team means being part of their ethos. If he doesn’t like it he should just leave. The world is better off without bigots being at the forefront of things.

Please OP, stop demonizing these poor Muslim victims of Eurocentric Christian patriarchy! They are INNOCENT and Islam is the religion of love, tolerance and peace (and they are willing to slaughter you in order to prove it). We gay people should understand that it's their culture, and they are not only enriching us culturally, but they are coming to Europe to pay our pensions and save us from endogamy and reactivate our economies! How can we be so intolerant? If these Muslim fanatics want to murder us, we should celebrate the diversity that they are bringing to the LGBTQYZXCWPOFMDE123456789 movement, which is all inclusive... I mean, they could be Islamist-sexual, fag-hating-sexual or fag-murdering-sexual, and we don't want to discriminate them for it, right? I wonder what they pronouns could be...

So, let's make things VERY clear: the members of racial and ethnic minorities are ALL good (unless they happen to be white or non-Muslim: in that case, they're all evil, especially if they are Russian), and no matter how ignorant, lazy, violent and conflictive, everything they do wrong is our fault. And to make things even more logical, Ukrainian Nazis are also victims and they're the only white people who deserve compassion!

Anyway, this hero of diversity is standing against hetero-patriarcal, white, Christian mono-culturalism, and that is SO commendable! Let's show our tolerance by celebrating his ideas and participating in the beauty of the religion of peace!

Just another day in the on-going conflict between Muslims and France's culture/values.

Its part of the package he signed up for when he took the job. If he doesnt like it, leave. Dont let the door hit your ass on the way out

The most important part of all of this, is the country Gueye comes from- Senegal- has an appalling record on gay rights.

No excuses. There are plenty of West African players in the English Premier League who don’t cause a fuss or push back on civil rights campaigning, whether they secretly want to deep down or not.

Shut up, get your head down and play the game. If you want the prestige of Western sport and the perks of the job, you have to get with the values system.

Fire him!

It could be worse, I guess.

He could have been blindfolded and pushed off the top of a building.

DL would be applauding him if he refused to wear the tranny flag.

R11 He wouldn't refuse. Because men in dresses are socially acceptable in Muslim countries as the socio-cultural solution to the scourge of homosexuality.

Look. As ass backwards and bigoted as the man is, he should not be forced to wear a damn t-shirt. FF me like there's no tomorrow but its true. If people want to protest him, cancel him, complain to advertisers, by all means, but forcing that is not ok

R13 It's not simply a case of "don't force him". It's part of the on-going open conflict between Islam and France. Gueye doesn't have to work/live in any country whose values offend his sensibilities. But he has chosen to. By doing so, he must accept that his values do not take precedence, and that they may indeed offend. Gueye demands respect for his values. He should also extend respect to the values of the people who pay him.

R13, please point to where he was forced to wear the t-shirt? He wasn’t. He is, in fact, being asked to explain why he didn’t wear the shirt. I expect if he doesn’t give a satisfactory answer he will be fined or fired, which I assume fits into things you would find acceptable since they qualify as cancelation or advertisers putting pressure on the club to release him but don’t lie and say he’s being forced to wear the shirt. He wasn’t and isn’t.

R4, the reason why you’re an unsuccessful troll relegated to posting in the wee hours in which no one is actually on DL is that you go too far. The art of trolling is in the nuance and subtlety of it, a finesse and style which you lack. Yours is a rough, course, almost barbaric style, like that of someone raised by a drunken, underemployed father and a mother who “relied on the kindness of strangers.”

Forcing people to wear something political - and it is political - is not helping the alphabet community. The Pride shit has turned into an anti-white, anti-Jew, pro-tranny, pro-mutilating gay kids, pro-communist movement. Enough already. I’m surprised France would even push this as they’re trying to combat American wokeism.

[quote] It's not simply a case of "don't force him". It's part of the on-going open conflict between Islam and France.

Regardless, it’s still bullshit. Call me when he commits a hate crime. I don’t give a rat’s ass if someone doesn’t like gays. As long as they aren’t attacking people, so be it. I’m pro-freedom of speech, pro-freedom of thought, pro-individualism. I don’t like Islam and wouldn’t want to be forced to wear something showing solidarity with them. France has a big anti-gay French Catholic movement. It’s not simply a Muslim movement.

Islam is a pox on humanity and especially outsiders like gays, women or even the wrong form of Muslim.

[quote] I don’t like Islam and wouldn’t want to be forced to wear something showing solidarity with them.

Yet you either wouldn't go/work/live in a Muslim country or if you were in the country, you would respect the local values. Gueye is not doing either. On the contrary.

[quote] France has a big anti-gay French Catholic movement. It’s not simply a Muslim movement.

Yes it is. Muslims have been at war with France and its values for decades, repeatedly attempting to subsume French values for Muslim, such as the on-going batting about hijab, niqab and "burqini". Catholics are not the ones harrassing, attacking and murdering Jews or beheading teachers and murdering priests.

[quote] I’m pro-freedom of speech, pro-freedom of thought, pro-individualism.

R17, what about the rights of the team owners and their speech? Why should they have to pay employees to not work? Why should an employee get to be paid while refusing to perform a duty historically understood as part of their employment, such as wearing the uniform the owners of your team want you to? What, for instance, should happen to a player who refuses to wear Nike-branded team gear because they disagree with the business ethics and child practices of Nike?

how does he demand respect though? Has he forced anyone to take part in his religious ceremonies/beliefs? Serious question.

R15 isn't this whole ordeal that he called in sick so he wouldn't have to participate? Or so they believe. He didn't refuse to wear anything because he wasn't there. And now they are forcing him to confirm or deny if he is homophobic? I don't think they should really have a right to do that, unless he is forced by his contract to show evidence of his sickness, in which case, yes, they do have a right to question him.

[quote] how does he demand respect though?

R21 By subsuming the values of the country he chooses to live/work in for Muslim values. As R6 sagely posted, don't like the local values, leave. Or rather don't sign up.

R20 he didn't refuse anything, he was "sick" that day and they are questioning whether it was due to illness or his homophobia. But unless in his contract he has to provide any evidence for the reason he was off that day, they have no right in forcing him to confirm or deny anything. It reads as if he committed a thought crime and people want to see him punished and as (obviously) anti homophobic as I am, I think that is dangerous territory.

R23, welp, that's a nice reach there.

Btw France has every right to kick his ass out for whatever reason too.

R25 Reach? A man takes a job with certain oblligations. He knows those obligations before he begins the job. If he abrogates any of those obligations due to personal offence, then what did he take the job for? France can't "kick his ass out". He's on contract to a football club. In the end, Gueye's behavior is simply the latest salvo in decades of conflict between Muslims and French values.

So, what I understand is he hasn't said anything homophobic but just doesn't want to be part of the pro LGBTQ campaign due to his religious beliefs. Why force him? That's the very definition of fascism. Makes you wonder how many of the players who've shown up have done so against their will and how that benefits our cause.

[quote] Why force him? That's the very definition of fascism.

R27 Why accept employment in a country whose values you find offensive? Why expect others to submit to your values?

PSG are basically the only major-player French team in the world. Ligue 1 is not exactly brimming with superstar clubs & talent—do casuals or the majority really give a fuck about Rennes or Marseilles? So whether PSG like it or not they represent the ethos of their nation’s sport-watching population, and sports’ businesses, in this matter. They therefore must ensure that French football falls in line with FIFA standards & practises, including the one about zero tolerance for bigotry (which to be frank has been nominal and dormant until recently..)

[quote] “I stand behind Idrissa Gana Gueye. His religious beliefs must be respected,” Senegalese President Macky Sall tweeted.

From the attached link:

[quote] The 32-year-old’s absence has prompted calls for a punishment. An organization campaigning against homophobia in sport, Rouge Direct, has been pushing for Gueye to be sanctioned by French football authorities. Valérie Pécresse, a French politician, also wants Gueye to be punished for his lack of support for the LGBTQ community.

[quote] “Footballers, especially those from PSG, serve as identity bearers for our young people. You have a responsibility to lead by example. Idrissa Gana Gueye’s unwillingness to join the fight against homophobia cannot go unpunished!” She sent a tweet.

R28 where is he expecting others to submit to his values? The only people doing that presently is the french government in this case.

Meanwhile Germany....

Okay so as someone who is half middle eastern, maybe my input can enlighten some people here. He probably has a large conservative family back in Senegal, and competing with a gay pride jersey would be the equivalent of coming out. If you think Ellen had it bad coming out, guess how people in the Islamic world have it. In some countries it's punishable by death, beatings, and prison sentence. People in other countries don't understand the difference between promoting gay rights and being gay, so they probably think Joe Biden is gay and his wife is totally okay with him sucking cock. Just wearing the jersey would bring shame, negative attention, and possibly violence towards the rest of the family. His decision to wear a jersey could lead to his family members getting harassed by other people in Senegal. Nobody should be forced to wear any item of clothing, especially when it possesses any type of political meaning or message. Sure, you can disapprove, but villainizing him is unfair because he had to make a tough decision. When I came out of the closet, I had to block all of that side of my family from my social media. My mom doesn't mention me to them, but if they ask, she says I'm doing fine. My boyfriend is half Lebanese and his family dynamic is the same. Pictures of us at pride or holding hands would not go over well.

he's probably just confused about what LGBTQI+ even is at this point.

Nasty french and their xenophobia and islamophobia. And the white male-centric nature of a "movement" now hounding an innocent immigrant simply because he think differently.

No one is forcing this guy to support anything. He has the right to quit if he feels strongly about his stance. Do they not play soccer in Muslim countries, for instance Senegal, where such jerseys wouldn’t be worn?

The answer is yes. He has the right and ability to go play elsewhere and him having a belief and a family in another country who might not like something is absolutely no reason to take away the right of a sports team, whose employment terms clearly involve wearing of uniforms chosen by the team owners, of its right to control what their employees wear.

Rights come with responsibilities and by not wearing the team-approved jersey but wanting to continue to get paid big bucks he shows he wants all the benefits and none of the responsibilities. It’s not fair to the owners of the team and it’s a very obvious violation of the employment contract he signed.

R34 oh darling, aren't we all?

R35 Racist bigot rationalizing Muslim homo hatred. On a gay board.

[quote] Do they not play soccer in Muslim countries, for instance Senegal,

Gueye currently earns 4 million Euro. He won't even earn 1% of that in Senegal. THAT'S why he's in France. That's why so many Muslims are in France/Europe. They love the equal access, the freebies and the high wages. They abhor the values. Thus the on-going conflict.

He didn't do anything wild like express disgust or release anti-gay statements. What he decided was to quietly sit out that day. He did the decent thing.

He sat out a game from a 37 game season for which he is paid €4,000,000. Deduct €108,000 from his salary. Easy-peasy!

Nobody should be forced to signal support for something that they don't personally believe, particularly by an employer. That's a classic liberal position; how have we deviated so far from that?

R42, wearing a jersey doesn’t indicate support. It indicates you’re wearing the uniform your boss requires you to wear. Again to use the Nike analogy, many people dislike Nike and its labor practices, namely the use of child labor in its production stream, but no one faults a team for releasing a player who refuses to wear Nike-branded shoes or clothing on the field if the team chooses that brand. If they had required the player to volunteer at a gay youth center or march in a Pride parade on his own time, I would agree with you but, in the US at least and I would wager in most of the industrialized nations, it has been long-established law that employees do not retain free speech rights while on the clock, for instance the new phenomenon of teachers being fired here for discussing gay topics in class. To take it a step further, if an employee bad-mouths their employer on their own time and they can be fired. Many athletes who are unhappy in their contracts have done so in the past in an attempt to be released from those contracts to become free agents. I am willing to bet money that the contract the PSG has their players sign has a clause, which the player agrees to, to wear the uniforms selected by the team and if that was unappealing to this player he had all the right in the world not to sign that contract.

[quote] wearing a jersey doesn’t indicate support. It indicates you’re wearing the uniform your boss requires you to wear.

A jersey with an explicit social message. You're really reaching, R43, to the point of being disingenuous.

Never been an issue for much bigger Senegalese superstars Sadio Mane of Liverpool, Edouard Mendy of Chelsea, or Senegal national team coach Aliou Cissé (formerly of PSG himself). He can always go home and sit in a hut.

Meanwhile, OP no doubt demonized the French because they refused to go along with the US’s Iraq War assholery.

Sorry, r43, I disagree. Of course, I wonder what the contract says, but I don't think employment should hinge on one's willingness to signal support for something one doesn't personally support.

R44, have you seen the jerseys? They weren’t even rainbow colored. They were white with the player’s number in rainbow colors.

It also bears mentioning that this is not a Muslim-religious stance. The team owners are the Qatari Sovereign Wealth Fund, who are most assuredly not liberal in their views.

R47, you can disagree all you want but contract law is what it is and when you sign an employment contract you are trading away many aspects of your free will, particularly at work. Otherwise it would be world in which you wouldn’t have to show up for work because you didn’t feel like it, you could refuse to serve customers that offended your sensibilities, you could publicly demean and injure the profitability of your employer and you could not be fired.

r48, Tony, I totally get the contract issue. I just disagree with it as it relates to politics or ideology. Honest question: can an employer force an employee to wear a cross or a hijab?

R49, employers regularly require employees to wear head coverings and if applied uniformly a cross is also likely permitted. I can think of at least one company in my area which has a cross in its logo and all the employees wear shirts with the logo. It would be an interesting case if it ever made it to court but an employer can certainly prohibit an employee from wearing a cross or a hijab, if that rule is applied uniformly amongst all of its employees.

I really quatrain the intent your question though. You mention ideology and politics, neither of which are protected classes in employment law, but ask a hypothetical which concerns religion, which is.

NFL players are required to stand and face the flag during the national anthem. If they don’t want to, they can remain in the locker room. It is apparent that the player in this instance did not ask his team for a special exemption, since he called out sick, not just this year but also last year during the same promotion.

[quote] You mention ideology and politics, neither of which are protected classes in employment law, but ask a hypothetical which concerns religion, which is.

I'm not a lawyer. This shocks me. I think of ideology and religion as nearly synonymous.

We can’t blame this on Islam. The religion isn’t making Gueye refuse to wear the jersey or participate in events geared to eradicating discrimination. He’s making that choice alone.

He’s not the only Muslim playing in Europe and they aren’t kicking up a fuss. From the converts to the Maghrebis to those from the Balkans to his fellow West Africans, Gueye is the only Muslim player kicking doing the most.

Plainly put, he’s an asshole and if he can’t agree that discrimination is wrong, he shouldn’t be paid to play; no player should.

R51, words have standard definitions having nothing to do with the law. If you mean religious ideology you should say so. Generally ideology has is a political or cultural connotation. Religion is a belief system separate from culture as religions come and go but political and cultural systems remain.

I am naturally repulsed by institutions trying to force us to behave in a certain way. I always hated HR when I used to work a corporate job.

R54, why didn’t you quit? You had free agency. If you were unhappy it was your own fault for not taking life by reins and finding a new job. Don’t blame HR when it was your own lazy inertia holding you back. Obviously you got out, why did it take you so long?

R36 He hates French culture but loves that dirty French lucre more. That and the French sluts.

[quote] We can’t blame this on Islam.

Uh, yes, we most certainly can. Gueye's behavior/actions are based on his Muslim culture.

From Bloomberg, 30 Nov 2021

Soccer Star Calls for Boycott of Premier League LGBT Effort

Qatar-based broadcaster BeIN Media Group found itself embroiled in controversy after one of its best-known commentators criticized the Premier League’s Rainbow Laces campaign in support of the LGBT community, potentially lighting a tinderbox in the run-up to next year’s World Cup.

With human rights groups already critical of staging the World Cup in Qatar, Mohamed Aboutrika, a retired Egyptian soccer star who appears regularly on BeIN, described homosexuality as an affront to the Muslim religion.

Also from Let All Play petition to FIFA to ban political symbols, such as the LGBT Rainbow: "In 2016, during the Premier League’s “Rainbow Laces” campaign, in which teams made LGBT rainbow laces available for players to wear on their cleats, “a large proportion of the negative comments” about this came from “the Muslim world.”

[quote] It also bears mentioning that this is not a Muslim-religious stance. The team owners are the Qatari Sovereign Wealth Fund

PSG is actually owned by Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, through closed shareholders Qatar Sports Investments (QSI). Unlike Gueye, as owners QSI must adhere to both local and international football rules, otherwise they risk having their club banned from competition.

Keep in mind that the Qataris were about to enact a law to ban homosexuals from entering the country, but shelved the plan for the present when they realized they would lose the chance to host the Mundial.

[quote] Keep in mind that the Qataris were about to enact a law to ban homosexuals from entering the country

I'm not too sure about that. Hamad International Airport is the sixth busiest airport in the world for international passengers.

Without gay stewards how could the world's airlines fly through there.

[quote] Keep in mind that the Qataris were about to enact a law to ban homosexuals from entering the country

[quote] I'm not too sure about that.

R59 From Wikipedia LGBT Rights in Qatar, 2022 FIFA World Cup Controversy:

[bold]“In 2013, Kuwait proposed banning gay foreigners from entering any of the Gulf Cooperative Countries, and the GCC agreed to discuss it. However, the GCC backtracked, possibly due to concerns over the effect on Qatar's hosting of the 2022 World Cup.”[/bold]

[quote] Without gay stewards how could the world's airlines fly through there.

I wonder how many self-respecting gay stewards bid on routes to/through homo-hating/murdering Gulf/Muslim countries.

Well I've got no plans to visit a website called "muslimskeptic.com" but the idea that an African Muslim is being demonised in France is hilarious.

Progressive LGBTQIA+ people bend over backwards to accommodate the anti gay views of Muslims, they argue it's racist to suggest Muslims are anti gay.

[quote] the Qataris were about to enact a law to ban homosexuals from entering the country, but shelved the plan for the present when they realized they would lose the chance to host the Mundial.

It still upsets me that the UK teams haven’t boycotted. We’re none of us gonna win or place high, our fans can’t afford to attend, and our lads won’t do well in the heat, either—so why bother?

Plus, our current senior squad is fruitier than a trifle. If the hosts had their way, we wouldn’t be able to field an XI of men who had never touched a cock not their own.

The tragedy was not that FIFA accepted homo-murdering Qatar's bid to host the Mundial. The true tragedy is that no football club, no player, no fan, no FIFA official spoke out to protest holding the matches in a homo-hating country. But then, it might help to keep to remember that the 1936 Olympcis were held in Berlin and attended by Hitler.

While I do agree that Guehe seems like a homophobe and shouldn’t be making a production, at the same time we do have recognise that railing against pronouns then turning around and commanding a man to wear a signifying garment could be construed as hypocritical on our parts.

OP needs a grease fire facial to get rid of that shithead impulse of hers.

[quote] then turning around and commanding a man to wear a signifying garment could be construed as hypocritical on our parts.

Football club owners, players and fans must abide by both local and international FIFA anti-gay rules/mandates. Gueye is exempt. Hypocrisy at its most racist and paternalistic.

But Gueye didn't refuse anything. He was simply not there to wear the jersey.

I'm actually disappointed in the french government here. Always had them pegged as smarter.

A contingent of the hissing rabid responses to this thread remind me of the loons we had trouble dispatching on the Euros thread last year. Some people just cannot hear reason, and when confronted with reasonable arguments they melt down screaming and steaming like the Wicked Witch.

[quote] But Gueye didn't refuse anything. He was simply not there to wear the jersey.

Gueye has a history of "not being there" when gays are the issue. His behavior/action constitutes refusal.

Whatever happened to live and let live? Why would you want to force someone to endorse beliefs they don’t want to?

[quote] Why accept employment in a country whose values you find offensive?

Gay shit is not a French value. God, you’re fucking dumb.

I’m gay, and at this point I wouldn’t even wear that shit on principal.

French values should including freedom of thought, freedom of expression. The little fascist fuck on here going on and on about France, like it’s some communist group think third world shithole, hasn’t even been to France. France houses rapists and cheers murderers. Spare me this wonderful culture bullshit. If someone doesn’t want to wear a shit, who fucking cares? It has nothing to do with French values. France is now gay oasis. Le Pen has a huge gay following there for Christ’s sake!

Why do you want to compel someone to wear a message? Examine yourself, watch yourself!